


Hidden Ace

by NatIannera



Series: March Writing Madness - 2019 [13]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: (at the end) - Freeform, Angst, Darkness, Fighting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, March Writing Madness, Multi, Romance, mild violence, writing challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-18 05:04:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18113843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NatIannera/pseuds/NatIannera
Summary: In order to help Aqua, you have to break a promise you made to her.





	Hidden Ace

**Author's Note:**

> Hoi zäme!  
> Yay, here's Aqua's! I was really looking forward to this one, because I really like the prompt.  
> I know it probably hasn't been all too obvious yet with my writing, but I really am a sucker for Angst. Angst is great in my opinion.  
> And because I was having an awful day, I decided to write some Angst.  
> I hope you'll enjoy!

When Aqua first met Riku and got to hear his story, she was sorely reminded of someone else. Of someone special to her.

She was reminded of you.

Although your circumstances were a bit different than Riku’s, you had very similar results. Both of you could access Darkness if needed, but it came at a great prize and neither of you liked using the power of Darkness.

How you got your Darkness was rather unclear, even to yourself. All you know is that your parents were cruel people, who stopped at nothing to sate their curiosity, even if it killed them in the end.

Aqua knew you throughout the entire process, and her young heart ached in pain when she saw you change. You became less carefree, less fun, and became more aggressive and jumpy. But still, Aqua stayed at your side, determined to be the guiding light in your life. And as the both of you got older, that desire grew into more. There was a mutual interest in each other, and you decided to pursue it.  It was the start of the best thing which had ever happened in your lives.

Aqua spent every free minute she could with you, telling you about Master Eraqus, Terra and Ven, and showing you what she learnt and how she improved. She distracted you, keeping your buzzing mind focused on one thing, keeping you grounded. You supported her in everything she did, always keeping faith in her and helping her wherever possible.

When Aqua disappeared, you almost gave into the Darkness lingering inside of you on multiple accounts. Losing her made you more destabilized than anything else, and you hated Xehanort more than you despised your parents. The only thing that held you back from giving into the Darkness and hunting Xehanort in all of his iterations down was a promise you made with Aqua.

“No matter what, never give into the Darkness.”

You latched yourself onto that promise, clinging to it for dear life whenever the Darkness seemed to tempt you. You kept on hoping and believing that somehow, some day Aqua would find her way back to you.

And when she finally did, after more than 10 excruciating years, you both cried with joy.

The hook was that she had to leave you again soon. Xehanort, the plague from hell, was close to actually achieving his goals, and as one of the seven Lights, Aqua had to go and fight against him. At first, you wanted to come along. So what if you’re not one of the seven Lights? No one said others weren’t allowed. But seeing as you have no Keyblade, no experience with Magic and no real training, you eventually had to see reason and accept the fact that you couldn’t go with them.

At least officially.

“Darling…?”

Aqua stares at you, horror evident on her face.

When did you get here? What were you even doing here? You weren’t supposed to be here. You were supposed to be in your home world, safe and sound, not in the middle of the battlefield, clearly overtaken and deformed by the Darkness!

Your head snaps back towards her, and your face tries to form a smile, yet utterly fails. Your eyes are completely yellow, no pupil to be seen, and your body is much more muscular than usual, ripping a lot of your clothing. You are slouching forward, your hands balled into fists. Just a second ago, you had decimated roughly one dozen Heartless which were trying to attack Aqua from behind. Aqua was already more than occupied with the dozen Heartless in front of her, and your body reacted on its own. The entire time you watched them, your body had been burning, wanting to step in and fight alongside Aqua, alongside your partner. Last shreds of doubt kept you back, until you saw those aforementioned Heartless leap at Aqua. You opened your heart to the Darkness, letting it overcome you, and eliminated them with one hit. They were nothing to you now, none of these Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed were.

“A… qua…” you manage to bring out, before a movement out of the corner of your eye made you react again. Another group of enemies, this time a mix of Nobodies and Unversed, approached you. You wasted no time in charging in on them, pulverizing them. Aqua too was pulled back into the tension of the battle, her body reacting without her thinking too much about it.

One thing Aqua knew: she had to inform everyone else not to attack you. Although patches of your skin are still prominently visible and you don’t look like  any other Heartless or Nobody, in the heat of the battle one doesn’t think too much about such details. You can’t risk anyone attacking you.

While Aqua is making her way towards the other fighters, you are busy taking care of the enemy creatures, even though they initially didn’t attack you. Most of them are not sentient or even smart, so they didn’t recognize you as a threat. It makes it a bit easier but also more difficult to destroy many at once, but once it seemed clear that you’re not on their side, they quickly started to attack you as well. You didn’t care too much about it, letting the Darkness roam freely and attacking like a wild beast would.

Eventually, a swarm of Heartless starts to form, which catches everyone’s attention. Sora attacks it head on, quickly being backed up by several hundred Keyblades – the ‘Light from the Past’ – as you are on the very opposite side of that swarm, doing your best in tearing a dent into it. It doesn’t help all that much, but at least it helps a little bit.

As the swarm is gone, you are still there, the Darkness still coursing through you. Aqua sees you, and starts running towards you immediately, calling out your name. You fall onto your knees and clutch your head, letting out a mixture between a roar and a scream as you’re fighting for dominance over the Darkness once again. Your mind is trying to claw it’s way through the Darkness enveloping it, pushes hard against the temptation to attack Aqua and the other Keyblade wielders. You love Aqua, you don’t want to hurt her. And the other Keyblade wielders have done nothing to you, so you have no reason to attack them. But the Darkness flowing through you demands you rip their hearts out, demands you make them like you.

Aqua stops a few steps before you, hesitant to kneel down, ignoring the others who are following her rather timidly. It has been over a decade since the Darkness overtook you, and it has never been for so long. She isn’t sure if she still can reach you, or if she has to use more drastic methods.

Feeling Aqua near you, you look up to her, your eyes flickering between the yellow and your normal eye color. You groan out a “Help…” and look up to her pleadingly.

Seeing you struggle like this hurts Aqua, and although she never wanted to do it, she pulls out one of the last resorts she has.

Calling her Master’s Keyblade, she raises it against you, forcing pure Light through your body.

You scream out in pain, the Darkness inside you finally diminishing to your normal levels. But your entire body is hurting with the aftereffects of your transformation and the injection of pure Light. Your body shrinks down to its usual size, your spine straightens, and your face becomes its usual form once again. The Light now nestled inside of you fights against the Darkness planted into your flesh, making you feel like you are being ripped apart.

Before you can fall, Aqua catches you, immediately looking you over. The spots of Darkness are fading back into the usual light grey they always were, and your fluttering eyes have your normal color once again. The only thing that pains her now is seeing this expression of pain on you, and knowing that she caused it.

As you lay in her arms, you start to cry shamelessly. Your mind is a mess, thoughts jumbling through each other, no sentence beginning or really ending. Memories also flash through your mind, memories of your father and mother, memories your brain had locked away until now. Until you pushed it too far by letting the Darkness consume you.

The other Keyblade wielders stand there, observing the both of you. Sora, Riku, Kairi and Axel are completely confused, while Ven is trying to remember you. He knows Aqua mentioned you many times, but it’s a bit foggy for him to remember.

“A..qua-“ you choke, your hands starting to tear at yourself to make the pain stop. You don’t know what exactly you’re trying to rip out, the Darkness planted into you or the Light coursing through you. But one had to go in order for you to live more peacefully.

“Yes, I’m here, I’m fine.” Aqua reassures you, gently drying your tears. She carefully tightens her hold on you, to show you that she’s here and to ground you furthermore.

Straining, your face morphs into a smile, albeit a still pained one. Then, from one second to the other, you go limp, your body giving out due to the extreme amount of pain and stress it experienced.

Aqua, extremely scared now, looks up to the others, her eyes searching for Ven. ”Ven! Potion!” She reaches out a hand, and Ven immediately fiddles a potion from his pockets and throws it towards her. Catching it with ease, Aqua sadly has to let you go in order to open the lid of the small container. She quickly uses the potion on you, seeing the healing light engulfing you and hoping it will help you.

Fortunately, it does, and you wake up feeling quite a bit better. You still feel sore and a bit overheated, but nothing like the burning sensation of being torn apart. Aqua helps you with sitting up, pushing strands of hair out of your face.

“Are you okay?” She asks, her hand mindlessly stroking your back. Shaking your head from side to side to clear it a bit, since your mind is still buzzing, it takes you a second to respond.

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Are you unharmed?” You lean back, checking for injuries on her. As you arrive on her face, an absolute look of disbelief is on her face. Raising and eyebrow, you tilt your head a bit, giving her a questioning look. What is wrong? “You just collapsed because your body couldn’t handle the stress from the Darkness, and you’re worried about me? Worry about yourself, you know I can handle myself!” Aqua firmly grasps your shoulders, almost shaking you as she speaks. You laugh, playfully swatting her hands away.

“Aw, c’mon, Aq! You know that’s how I am. I’ll worry for you, even if you’d have to fight against a tiny worm.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you notice a movement, and out of habit, your gaze snaps towards it. It’s a blond-haired boy who just closed one of his pockets, seemingly surprised at your reaction. Then, you notice all the others – all of Aqua’s fellow Keyblade wielders – just standing there, watching the both of you, making you a bit nervous.

“Ah, uh… hi, by the by. Sorry for that monster-ish look beforehand. Would change it if I could, but I doubt Darkness can be changed to look good on anyone. And, uh, sorry if I accidentally somehow hindered you, I don’t really train as… _that_ for obvious reasons.” You lift a hand up, waving at the group while giving them a lopsided smile. Aqua bites her tongue in order not to roll her eyes, since she knows you would definitely notice that and make a comment about it.

“Hey, nice to meet you! And don’t think about it – just… are you okay?” A boy with brown hair and rather sunny vibe greets you, while the others just nod. A silver haired boy – young man? It’s difficult to guess their age – eyes you a bit wearily. From Aqua’s stories, you guess that the brown haired boy is Sora while the silver haired one is Riku.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be perfectly fine in a bit. At least I think so, the aftereffects usually don’t last that long. Though it’s been a while, so I can’t clearly remember.” You rub your neck, a bit embarrassed. “Yes, it has been a while. But I would like to know why you broke your promise.” Aqua says sternly, fixating you with her gaze. Under normal circumstances, you would start to feel guilty or lower your gaze, but not this time. Yes, you broke your promise, but this is a situation where you don’t regret it. You did it to protect Aqua, and for that you’ll never be sorry.

“’I want to be a hero, and if it means breaking my promise, I will do what I must’ type of situation. Can’t let my light get hurt, can I?” You gently take Aqua’s hand in your, and look up to her with pure adoration in your eyes. Riku raises an eyebrow at that, while Ven and Kairi simply smile. Sora doesn’t really notice it, while Axel is rather neutral about the entire situation.

“You are… such an idiot sometimes!” Aqua bends down, laughing. Your answer is sweet, but also a bit klutzy and funny. Even though the situation in and of itself is rather dire, and she soon has to fight for the sake of the universe alongside the others, you still bring a bit of light and joy into the situation. By everything radiant, does she love you.

“I know, I know. But I’m your idiot, right?” You gently squeeze her hand, still grinning at her. If the other’s weren’t there, you would pull her closer to you and give her a kiss, but in front of such an audience, you felt a bit too shy.

“Of course you are. Always.” To your surprise, Aqua pulls you towards herself, pressing a quick kiss against your temple. You hide your face with your other free hand while giggling, and Aqua can’t help but join you.

“I hate to burst this bubble, but I think we have visitors.” The man with flaming red hair is looking to the side, staring off into the distance where a dark cloud can be seen. Aqua and you exchange a look, and with a nod, the both of you fall into action.

Although you’re still a bit wobbly on your legs, you quickly hide behind one of the giant rocks while Aqua falls in line with the others.

They will fight primarily. And you’ll be a hidden trump card when the going gets tough.

A Darkness, guided by Light, will now fight against the misguided Darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> And that's that.  
> Now, on to the next one, which will be for Ven!  
> I hope I'll do it justice, because I have a very specific scenario in mind.  
> Wish me luck!
> 
> Tschüss!


End file.
